DIY Wedding Welcome Bags

Ever since we knew that Apb and I would be having out of country guests attending our wedding (he is American; I am Canadian yet I graduated University from MSU and now live back home in Canada) we were dead set on having Wedding Welcome Bags as the perfect way to greet our guests come wedding weekend. Originally I was dead set on throwing together screen printed cotton canvas bags because the idea was completely adorable and really, how hard and expensive could it really be?

I thought we could get a really cool screen print in some sort of vintage pattern with our initials or something. Then our guests could reuse the bags long after our wedding is over. Yet, costs started adding up after I looked into prices, and frankly I didn't know if guests would even like the idea as much as I did; wouldn't a throw away bag be easiest for everyone? After all, who even wants a canvas bag that reads 'Andrew Loves Rhiannon So So Much' (that's a joke Apb).

So to solve my problem my fabulous Mom picked up some brown paper tote bags from Michaels that come in packs of 13. They are the perfect size and because of the brown paper are great for stamping and writing on (unlike coloured bags that have a slippery-shimmery finish on them that doesn't allow ink to dry). Yet as much as I love stamps and ink, I really wanted to incorporate a little message on the bags via some shipping tags from Staples (if you've never really found a use for shipping tags then find one ASAP because these things are oh so versatile and way too much fun). There are two sizes of tags to choose from and each pack comes with 100 tags for under $4.00. Yes please and thank you very much.

Then my Mom really outdid herself. She bought a ton of goodies to stuff in the bags like...

{Organic raspberry, coffee, orange and coconut chocolate}

{Individually wrapped biscottis}

{Mini Volupsa travel candles}

{Packs of eucalyptus bath salts}

{Salted packs of peanuts}

{Packages of white Tic Tacs}

{Various flavours of chocolate toffee crunch}

{Pamphlets of downtown Burlington where everyone is staying}

{Face towels pressurized into a roll that you dampen with water to use}

And I got to stuffing these bags as fast as I possibly could. I really was way too excited to see how they came together complete with all the goodies in them and the adorable little embellished shipping tags tied on the handles; with black lace of course. And now that I am seeing how nicely the bags came together I can't even believe I contemplated canvas tote bags. Brown.paper.bags.all.the.way.

I stamped the corners of the tags with a fancy hole punch, then wrote "Welcome. We are so glad you're here. Enjoy, Love Rhi and Andy" on them. Now all we need to add is some Toronto and Niagara Falls postcards with personalized messages to each of our guests (like how to make sure they check out the incredible gelato place directly across the street from their hotel because it's truly heavenly). The morning before the first guests begin to arrive I will drop off the basket of bags to the hotel to make sure the staff on duty hands them out upon guest's arrivals. 

I think I will use these bags in the future for gifts and parties and loot bags since the possibilities are endless when it comes to jazzing up the bags. I also hope this post helps anyone else who may be in a rut trying to find a cost-friendly alternative to packaging multiple bundles of gifts or items for people. I know this kind of post would have been helpful about two month ago for me :) Happy DIY-ing everyone!